The Mississippi River, where Marvel Bar sits, is the northeast border of the revived Minneapolis warehouse district, while broad Washington Avenue cuts it right down the middle. On Washington, near the newly-restored lumber mill-turned hotel The Hewing (where we were staying), is a small liquor shop called the North Loop Wine & Spirits and it’s well worth your time. Tiny as it is, the NLWS is packed from ceiling to floor with bottles. Its floor displays are mainly devoted to world wines and craft beers. Its walls are lined with a surprising array of odd liqueurs, specialty vermouths, and wide-ranging whiskeys. The great thing about NLWS is its lineup of Minnesota products. Seemingly every liqueur Tattersall makes is here, including its glorious 80 proof grapefruit crema; Vikre aquavit, flavored and otherwise, and Norseman gins and rums also make an appearance.
Viking Spring
Holly’s Original
1 ½ ounces Tattersall grapefruit crema
½ ounce Farigoule
3 ounces Spruce Soda orange blossom tonic
Just around the corner from the North Loop Liquor is the Red Cow, a upscale hamburger joint that features a good beer collection. Here we sampled a number of local brews including a Steel Toe Brewing’s Dissent, a dry wintertime stout; Lift Bridge Brewing’s Cow-laboration #5, a dark porter that is imbued with coconut flavor at the middle and through its finish; a Brau Brothers Moo Joos Red Velvet, which was a sweet milk stout that wouldn’t interest many beer drinkers due to its overwhelming cocoa forward nature, but chocolate cake lovers might dig it; and a Fulton’s Lonely Blonde, a rather ordinary pale ale that still went great with a Red Cow Philly cheesesteak.
